


be still, my indelible friend, you are unbreaking

by Hoothootmotherf_ckers



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Chronic Pain, Gen, Headaches & Migraines, Hurt/Comfort, I bet Killian gives GREAT hugs, Sickfic, author projects their own illnesses onto their favorite characters what a novel concept, shhh doesn't everyone want the BOB staff to give them a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:22:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28276029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hoothootmotherf_ckers/pseuds/Hoothootmotherf_ckers
Summary: Waking up with a migraine is a tremendously shitty way to start a day. Thankfully, Lucretia has friends determined to make it less shitty.(and the title's a Hozier lyric, because ofcourseit is.)
Relationships: Avi & The Director | Lucretia, The Director | Lucretia & Carey Fangbattle, The Director | Lucretia & Killian, The Director | Lucretia & Taako, bureau of balance & the director | Lucretia
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	be still, my indelible friend, you are unbreaking

Before she even opens her eyes, Lucretia knows this day is a lost cause. Gentle golden sunlight streams through her windows, illuminating the moon base in warmth and sending deep, crushing pain spiking through her brain. Eyes still shut, she considers what she needs to get done today, the meetings and projects and social interactions necessary for the Bureau of Benevolence to function.

“Actually, fuck this,” she mutters, and she yanks her blankets up over her head, trying to block out the light and return to relatively pain-free sleep. 

An interminable amount of time later, her half awake dozing is interrupted by a knock on the door. “Hey, Ma- uh, Lucretia, you in there?” Carey’s voice calls through the door. “You missed the meeting this morning, I just want to make sure you’re good.”

Lucretia groans loudly and shoves her head further under her blankets.

There’s a moment of silence and then Carey says, “Okay, huh. That doesn’t sound like you’re good. I’ll be right back, you don’t sound like you’re in any state to get the door and I left my good lock picks in my room, BRB!” 

Lucretia, only processing about half of that, decides to just let whatever’s happening happen. 

A few minutes later, a handful of scratching and clicking sounds signal Carey’s return, and as her door swings open, Lucretia tries to pull herself up in her bed to retain _some_ semblance of dignity. Oof, this is a bad one - just sitting up like this is taking all of her strength and she has to stop for a moment to catch her breath.

“Yikes, Lucretia, don’t do that, you look like shit,” Killian says, at which point Lucretia realizes that Carey’s brought backup.

She snorts out a laugh. “Thank you for your honesty,” she says, mustering a weak grin. If she squints, she can see Killian, Carey, and Avi standing in her doorway, all carrying armfuls of indeterminate stuff. “Wow, the gang’s all here.”

“I mean yeah, duh,” Carey says lightly, “you sounded like you were fucking dying.”

“Nope, not quite yet,” Lucretia mutters, quietly enough that she hopes no one hears her. They do, of course, because that’s how her day is going. 

“And we’d like to keep things that way!” Avi says brightly. “We figured this was some patented migraine bullshit again, and it sure looks like we were right, so we came prepared.” 

With that, Carey leaps up into the windowsill, arranging what seem to be rudimentary blackout curtains. Or maybe just really heavy tarps stolen from somewhere else on the moon base, but she’s not going to question that right now. Avi and Killian, meanwhile, begin laying out an array of food, drinks, and other items. 

“Alright, here we’ve got herbal tea, ice water, juice, soup, crackers, heat packs, ice packs, and of course,” and Avi gestures with a flourish, “pain medications!” 

Lucretia grimaces. “Nope, not gonna work on this one, unfortunately.”

“Aw, drat, one of those?” Carey frowns. “Okay, we’re gonna futz with your schedule a bit because you’re going to be in no shape for any Bureau stuff for at least tomorrow, either.”

“Speaking of Bureau stuff…” Lucretia says slowly, trying to put the pieces together, “If you’re all here, who’s running the show?”

Killian grins. “Oh, that would be Acting Director McDonald, of course!”

Lucretia blinks. “You know, I should have a problem with you putting a twelve year old in charge of a semi-secret magical organization, but it’s Angus. That tracks.” 

“Just to clarify, we did not put him in charge of anything,” Avi says. “He elected himself and used his status as Acting Director to overrule the rest of us.”

“Which is also extremely on brand for him,” Carey adds. 

Killian manages to get her vertical enough to eat some soup, the blackout curtains doing wonders for her nausea. They leave the rest, bundled up in ways that her shaky hands won’t manage to spill, and leave with rushed promises to be back soon that Lucretia, by now more than a little out of it, tries not to draw any parallels to. 

And then she sits back in bed and tries to sleep. Tries being the operative word. 

There’s only so much Lucretia can sleep in a day, so by late afternoon she’s spent a solid few hours staring at the wall, thinking about anything and everything, often spiraling into places she’d rather not consider. As a result, when Taako arrives, he doesn’t quite get the warm welcome he expected. 

“Hi, Creesh!” he says, cheerfully but quietly. “Came up to supervise the boy detective, he said you were having a rough day, thought I’d check in!”

And suddenly, Lucretia is furious. 

“No. Get the fuck out.” She bites out. Taako looks somewhat hurt and bewildered.

“Are you okay?”

“NO!” Lucretia half yells, but she lacks the energy to do it properly. “No, I’m not fucking okay, Taako, what the fuck does it look like? I’m in a lot of pain, I’m fucking bored as hell, I’m worried about all the shit I’m not getting done today, and this is all because my _fucking_ brain can’t do its _fucking_ job and _fucking_ work!” She slumps back under her blankets, the room spinning around her too much to stay upright. 

“So unless,” she hisses quietly, “you have a solution to something that no gods-damned medicine or magic or anything whatsoever has been able to fix, _get the fuck out of my room._ ” 

Taako has been frozen for the entirety of her speech, and now his shoulders slump. “I’m sorry-“

He’s cut off yet again by an even angrier Lucretia. “I don’t want your _fucking_ pity!” Distantly, Lucretia thinks she’s going to regret saying some of this later, as her relationship with Taako since they won is fragile at best, but right now she can’t bring herself to care. She’s angry and exhausted and frustrated and can feel the tears building in the corners of her eyes. 

She’s jolted out of her misery as a blur of blue streaks across the room and pins Taako to the wall. Carey Fangbattle, a solid two feet shorter than Taako (counting the hat) snarls up at him, sharp teeth gleaming. “What the _fuck_ did you do?!”

“Nothing, holy shit, fuck, Carey, I’m - I just-“ Taako stammers, genuinely alarmed.

Lucretia sighs, suddenly too exhausted to be angry. “It’s okay, Carey. Let him go.”

Carey glares. “It’s not fucking okay, Lucretia! I don’t know what he did, but he clearly did _something_ , and,” and she focuses her glare on Taako again with an intensity that reminds Lucretia (and also obviously Taako) that she has been known to breathe lightning, “he needs to know to _not do it again._ ”

“Taako... go check on Angus, okay?” Lucretia asks, trying to salvage this. “I’ll talk to you... later. Like tomorrow.” 

“Nuh-uh,” Killian says, having been drawn by the bustle. “Remember why we’re clearing your schedule tomorrow?” 

She turns to Taako. “I’ll let you know when she’s up to talking, ‘kay? But for now I think you’d better go.”

Taako nods, still wide eyed. “Yeah, okay. I’ll see you later, we’re good. And Lucretia’s clearly in good hands here, I’ll leave you slightly terrifying bodyguards to it.”

He backs out of the room, warily watching Carey the whole time. As soon as he’s gone, she hops up onto the end of Lucretia’s bed, curling up like a cat. 

“Carey... you good?” Lucretia asks quietly. 

Carey grins weakly. “Yup, I’m fine, absolutely great, I’m just not leaving you alone anymore today.” 

“Unless like you really want us to,” Avi adds, poking his head in the door. “Took us a few hours to get everything sorted, so sorry about that, but we’re all free now to hang out because getting left alone with just your head kinda sucks.” 

Lucretia smiles weakly. “Not sure I’m the best company right now...”

“Oh don’t even worry about that, your job is to just sit back and chill, we can keep ourselves occupied,” Killian says. “And also you, we brought books, although they’re Angus’s books so I hope you enjoy child detective murder mysteries...” 

“Oooh, ooh, do _Caleb Cleveland and the Case of the Cat-Burgling Countess!_ ” Carey pipes up.

“Or how about _Caleb Cleveland and the Case of the Counterfeit Canadian Coins?_ ” Avi adds. 

Lucretia grins. “Do you have _Caleb Cleveland and the Case of the Cursed Clarinet?_ ” she asks.

Killian smiles back. “Oh hell yeah I do, let’s do this.”

Lucretia settles back in her bed as Killian begins to narrate in her gruffest noir voice, and smiles up at the ceiling. Migraines are always going to be shitty and frustrating and exhausting, but friends like this make them suck just a bit less.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not the happiest with this, but I'm trying really hard to get through a bit of self-judgmental writer's block. So when in doubt, time to project my own shit onto my favorite characters. Not even the first time I've done this exact thing to Lucretia. Also sorry Taako, but that's a thing I've wanted to yell at people quite a lot. Chronic illness is a motherfucker.


End file.
